vampire

vampire
vampire (n.) 1734, from Fr. vampire or Ger. Vampir (1732, in an account of Hungarian vampires), from Hung. vampir, from O.C.S. opiri (Cf. Serb. vampir, Bulg. vapir, Ukrainian uper), said by Slavic linguist Franc MikloЕЎiДЌ to be ultimtely from Kazan Tatar ubyr "witch," but Max Vasmer, an expert in this linguistic area, finds that phonetically doubtful. An Eastern European creature popularized in English by late 19c. gothic novels, however there are scattered English accounts of night-walking, blood-gorged, plague-spreading undead corpses from as far back as 1196. Applied 1774 by French biologist Buffon to a species of South American blood-sucking bat.

Etymology dictionary. 2014.

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  • vampire — [ vɑ̃pir ] n. m. • 1738; all. Vampir, du serbe 1 ♦ Fantôme sortant la nuit de son tombeau pour aller sucer le sang des vivants. ⇒ goule, strige . 2 ♦ Fig. (1756) Vieilli Suceur de sang, homme avide d argent. « Hors du trône, tyrans ! à la tombe,… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Vampire — Vam pire, n. [F. vampire (cf. It. vampiro, G. & D. vampir), fr. Servian vampir.] [Written also {vampyre}.] [1913 Webster] 1. A blood sucking ghost; a soul of a dead person superstitiously believed to come from the grave and wander about by night… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • vampire — ► NOUN 1) (in folklore) a corpse supposed to leave its grave at night to drink the blood of the living. 2) (also vampire bat) a small bat that feeds on blood by piercing the skin with its incisor teeth, found mainly in tropical America.… …   English terms dictionary

  • vampire — [vam′pīr΄] n. [Fr < Ger vampir, of Slav orig., as in Serb vàmpīr] 1. Folklore a corpse that becomes reanimated and leaves its grave at night to suck the blood of sleeping persons 2. an unscrupulous person who preys ruthlessly on others, as a… …   English World dictionary

  • Vampire — For other uses, see Vampire (disambiguation). The Vampire, by Philip Burne Jones, 1897 Vampires …   Wikipedia

  • Vampire — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Vampire (homonymie) …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Vampire — Vampir kann bedeuten: eine Sagengestalt, siehe Vampir eine Gruppe sich von Blut ernährender Fledermäuse, siehe Vampirfledermäuse, am bekanntesten davon ist der Gemeine Vampir mehrere andere Fledermäuse, die den Vampirfledermäusen ähnlich sehen,… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Vampire$ — infobox Book | name = Vampire$ title orig = translator = image caption = Roc Books 1992 edition author = John Steakley illustrator = cover artist = country = United States language = English series = genre = Fantasy publisher = Roc Books pub date …   Wikipedia

  • Vampire —    One of the undead. A corpse that lives in a grave during the day, and at night seeks nourishment by sucking the blood of humans. A vampire can take the form of a bat or wolf, and has no reflection in a mirror. The only way to kill a vampire is …   The writer's dictionary of science fiction, fantasy, horror and mythology

  • vampire — vampiric /vam pir ik/, vampirish /vam puyeur ish/, adj. /vam puyeur/, n. 1. a preternatural being, commonly believed to be a reanimated corpse, that is said to suck the blood of sleeping persons at night. 2. (in Eastern European folklore) a… …   Universalium

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